Leo Simon
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The Empire Returns Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2023-04-13 18:27:19 +0000 UTCThe Mess Hall of the training camp was lively as many cadets exchanged pleasantries however one table was noticeably more crowded than the rest.
"Listen I'm from Shiganshina buy I only saw the Colossal and Armoured Titans, I didn't see much of what was going on and what I did see was probably mentioned in reports of the attack." Armin seriously didn't want to answer any questions that the other Cadets had for him about that day, Eren would be more qualified and willing than him anyway.
Mikasa sat on another table completely uninterested in answering any of the other trainees questions, wanting to simply eat her food in silence, so she opted to sit on a completely different table to the blonde boy.
Armin was actually relieved when Eren came stumbling inside, looking sweaty from the rigorous amounts of running their bald instructor made him do, since it likely meant that Eren could take his place and bite the bullet for him; as guilty as it made him.
All the eyes turned to the jade eyed boy as he took his seat next to Mikasa as nobody seemed to breathe a word.
He didn't look as tired as some would expect seeing as he ran for hours on end without stop.
He took the food that the oriental girl saved him gratefully." Thanks for saving some food for me, doubt I'd be able to get up tomorrow if I skipped dinner."
He spoke nonchalantly as though everybody in the hall didn't have their eyes on him.
"Hey your from Shiganshina, like this guy?!" Connie yelled out overly loud like the impulsive idiot he was.
Eren turned to him." Well I said I was earlier didn't I?" He regarded the boy with a casual tone.
"Well did you see the Titans? The Colossal and the Armoured ones too?" A girl with pig tails named Mina spok out.
He scratched his ear has he spoke." Well it's not really something I like talking about but I'll do you a solid." He held up three fingers." I'll answer you three questions. Only three got it?" My tone gave no room for negotiations.
The pre-teens all paused for a moment before a ginger girl named Hannah spoke and cut the rooms tension." What were the Colossal and Armoured Titans like."
The refugee stroked his chin in contemplation." The Colossal was a lot bigger than a normal Titan, whilst regular ones are at max like 20 meters he was about three times as tall as that with no skin on, his face also looked like a skull and he appeared in a weird flash of lightning that caused a little earthquake." Bertolt and the others seemed to freeze up a little as I recalled what I knew happened that day in quite detailed words.
"Now the Armoured Titan was just the size of a normal titan but it had armour that looked like stone on. Apparently its tough enough that cannons do absolutely jack shit to it."
The Cadets winced slightly at the thought of a speeding cannon ball simply shattering as an invincible force came rushing at them and the warriors weren't exactly comfortable at information being given out, even if the source wasn't exactly the most credible.
"What we're the regular Titans like?" My eyes again shone with contemplation as I recalled the many Titans I witnessed rampage and feast that day and the ones I saw in the anime.
"Well unlike the Armoured and Colossal, who looked pretty well proportioned, the regular Titans are... deformed quite a bit some cases. Some were really fat, some were so thin you could count their ribs, some walked on four legs whilst others had unnaturally long or short limbs, some had sharp teeth whilst others had blunt ones. Oh and some are big enough to smash apart houses whilst others can first through a doorway." I tried to give a detailed enough explanation to their physical appearance. Many Cadets looked nervous as I described the monsters that massacred nearly everyone in my city that day.
I reached for my drink but stopped." Oh and whilst some Titans ate the person they got fast others... played with their food." I involuntarily shuddered as I recalled Erens vivid memories of his mother kicking and screaming as Dina Fritz's Titan snapped her spine in half.
Many Cadets looked pale at the thought of a person being pulled apart before being devoured as the Warriors tried to ignore Erens words as the feeling of guilt grabbed the back of their necks and they tried to focus on evening their breathing.
One brave Cadet asked a very courageous question." How many people died in Shiganshina that day?" Many Cadets seemed to send him looks that made him whilter as Eren frowned.
"You-you don't have to-"
"No it's fine and if you don't know then you should know. There were Ten Thousand people who lived in Shiganshina and the only survivors shipped away on a few tiny boats so... about Three Hundred survivors if I wanted to be generous, and I definitely saw children that didn't get on board." He spoke grimly as he recounted all the people that were left behind to die at the Titans hand or failed to get away.
The Cadets had to pause for a moment to let that sink in, nearly Ten Thousand people, civilians, eaten alive in that one day, the thought left them feeling dizzy, how in the hell are they supposed to fight such a powerful and merciless enemy.
Meanwhile the Warriors breath hitched and caught in their throats as they were reminded of the consequences of their actions and Bertolt started shaking as he held back tears. Reiner tries to hold his fell shoulder to help him collect himself but considering that his hand was also shaking erratically he wasn't doing a very good job.
Annie too felt herself guilty but hers was hollow, empty, it didn't matter to her like everything else around her. At least that's what she tells herself. She has her regrets, becoming a warrior at all being at the top of her list, but she just needs to retrieve the Founding Titan and go home, these lives shouldn't matter to her, it doesn't matter whether what she's doing is right or wrong, she just needs to do what's necessary.
Eren spoke up."I am going to join the Survey Corps not because I'm not afraid of the Titans but because I want to show them that they can't beat humanity into submission and resignation, that no matter how many times they beat me down I'll keep getting back up, because that's who we are. That we can still hope that their will come a day when we get the outside world back because there will be a day we get it all back, people will die in the struggle, but humanity won't be done until the population is less than one, anything less is an insult to everyone who died at the Titans hands. Plus if they can just appear out of thin air and destroy Shiganshina who's to say that they can't do the same to Trost and then Sina, if we don't draw a line in the dirt then we'll damn well run out of walls to hide behind."
Satisfied that his speech broke some of the naivety in this room full of youths he stood up and took his food with him opting to finish outside as a pose to sticking around to see the results of his words.
Mikasa and Armin soon followed after him as the children in the Mess Hall ran over Erens word in their heads with those who wished to join the Military Police with the naive hope of never having to fight the Titans having their world view shattered as the reality of just how badly humanity was losing to the Titans dawned on them as some held their heads in their hands whilst others felt slightly sick as bile rose to their throats.
The Warriors meanwhile were feeling disdainful towards Eren for giving them a brutal reminder of how bad of people they are, that unlike them who are hiding from their sins out of fear of their homeland and their selfishness to survive at the cost of Hundreds of Thousands of innocent people Eren is seemingly more than willing to face his fears head on and overcome the problem in front of him than run away from it and act like it doesn't exist.
They also felt a strange feeling emit from Eren, as though he were an actual threat, that he has the power to stop them, that he is someone that will do absolutely anything under the sun if it means achieving his goals, and it honestly made them fear him as irrational as it sounds, he's just some ignorant child that is blowing hot air about revenge and can't do anything when faced with the full power of Marley right?
Right?
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Keith Shadis overlooked many of the trainees and was satisfied enough with what he saw. Obviously a select few have a lot more aptitude for the ODM gear than others with several people being obvious, at least to him, that idiot girl who was eating a potato in the rite of passage, the smartass who said he wanted to join the Military Police, though he has to give him points for honesty, and the Oriental girl that he's seen with Grishas son.
As for his old friends child himself-
Keith was shocked as he witnessed the boy staying upright even with defective gear! He's shaking more than a little and even a blind man could see that he's struggling just to stay upright but the fact that he's not falling or smashing his head in was awe-inspiring!
He shook his head." Stop shaking Yeager." He spoke as the boys green eyes met the sunken eyed instructors own as the boy seemed to carry a knowing look in his eyes.
"I think my gear might be faulty or something, can I change belts sir?" He asked seemingly oblivious but inwardly smirking in victory.
Keith honestly didn't think of the possibility that he'd stay upright since most can't even last for a second with busted gear, yet somehow Grishas boy managed to make the impossible possible. Like father like son.
Keith accepted and changed Erens belt, the boy did acceptably on the aptitude test, perhaps not on the same level as Ackerman but still very impressive none the less.
He allowed his eyes to wander to the brown haired boy and tried in vain to block out the memories he held of his failures and Grishas successes.
Keith is more than willing to admit that he did a terrible job as the Commander of the Survey Corps with Erwin, his much more qualified successor, being the only reason the Corps even survived as long as it did. Time and time again he lead men and women to their deaths with little, well nothing, to show for it.
It didn't help that whenever he saw his old friend Grisha he was reminded that between the two the Doctor was by far the better man, he gre resentful and bitter as the man married Carla, a woman he's been infatuated with for many years, and had a child of his own.
The bo- no young man looks exactly like Carla in almost every way possible, but that fire that burns in those green eyes, that comes from his father.
Maybe the boy is special, like his father was, Grisha seemed to see something in his son. Let's see if he can change something or he's just a bystander.
Like he is.
---------------------- Ten months later:
The Commandant was making some speech about a task we have to do by tracking around some mountain.
The gist of it is to treck around and back to camp in a group of nine on horseback. We have to cover thirty two kilometers in three days. It's nothing particularly hard in my opinion but I can't shake off the feeling in the back of my head that something will go wrong.
It's probably nothing.
My team consists of me as the team leader with the rest being under my leadership. Those being Armin, Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Historia, Thomas and Mina.
Armin was the record keeper who's job is to keep track of anything that occurs during our assignment be it decisions I make, obstacles in our way, or complications in our journey.
This task is likely a test for Shadis to see who holds the best aptitude for leadership among us Cadets with him assigning those he seems promise in as leaders of their own squad. I have made it a bit of a habit to go on speeches about the Survey Corps and made it no secret I planned on joining them and what my ambitions for retaking Wall Maria are. Some like that I'm passionate and know what I want, whilst others find my accurate points scary and try to avoid me, a lot of them seem to be intimidated by me for whatever reason, but either way if I have a say in it then these people won't have to taste the vengeful wrath of Marley be it by the hands of our titanised patriots or our transformed compatriots.
I'm no paragon of morality and virtue, I have no problem lowering myself to getting my hands dirty if it means bringing down our enemies. Armin and Hange weren't wrong for wanting to find a solution that avoided conflict but diplomacy was never an option when it comes to a nation as deranged as Marley.
I've seen Grisha's memories of his life in Marley and I can tell you that life in Liberio was a constant fear, a nightmare where you treaded carefully on a line between life and death where if you so much as looked at a Marleyan the wrong way then you'd get a beating at best and be butchered at worst.
In fact it isn't just Grisha that I've seen since me and Historia made contact, I've seen the lives of many Shifters from times passed, their struggle under Marleys tyranny, their hatred as that watched their families died their feelings of helplessness as Rin and the others were burned alive, we were gonna go get some ice cream in the morning but those Marleyans didn't care. Mummy had a baby in her belly but those Marleyans killed her just the same. I watched from the cracked closet as Rin reached out, well not Rin the burnt figure that used to be Rin, wanting me to save her, to stop the pain, but she went limp as I did nothing but watch and wait for the house to burn down and be buried with my family, but I didn't die, my dad's revolutionise friend dragged me out screaming and crying as he looked me in the face and I recognised him Armin.
"Eren, Eren,-"
"Eren are you okay?" I snapped out of my daze to see that everyone in the group was looking at me strangely.
"Something wrong?" I asked with a deep voice as the image of the Owls sisters burning body was seared into my brain as though I was there myself.
"Dude why are you crying?" Connie asked oblivious to the aura I gave off.
I wiped my cheek clean of tears before continuing with what I was doing previously.
I spoke tiredly." Nothing let's go." These memories are helpful in certain situations but experiencing the pain and trauma of several generations going on in my head all at once isn't exactly something I like about holding both the Attack and Founding Titans.
They, especially Armin, weren't convinced but regardless we began our journey through the mountains to complete the deadline placed for us.
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Historia felt nervous as their group was lead through the forest.
It wasn't the task itself that she found daunting, but rather who exactly is leading them.
In her months she's gained the likeness of the majority of the trainees at camp either through her actions or her looks. She's usually around Ymir the most, since the freckled girl is who she feels most comfortable with, however she had the misfortune of being assigned to a different team than her so she had to make due.
She isn't unhappy about being assigned to a team lead by Eren Yeager, he's quite favoured among the Cadets, he's second in the class strength wise, smart, and always willing to lend a hand if you need it. He's an capable leader no doubt and she's quite fond of him herself but-
She thinks back to the moment they shook hands, that feeling of being shocked and Frieda-
She honestly has no idea how she forgot her sister, she has no recollection of ever hitting her head hard or having a condition or incident that could result in memory loss, so that really begs the question as to how she simply forgot someone who was such a big part of her life and then remembered upon contact with the boy who's leading them in this moment.
She's never been superstitious but her gut is telling her he knows something and that she should demand that he tells her what it is-
No whats she thinking, that's not how a proper lady should act, she has no right to demand information off of him. She's just overthinking things, it's just a coincidence.
She watched the back of his head as they rode at a steady pace along the mountains path.
But then again he's always seemed to drop hints whenever they talk, and he has a habit of calling her princess for some reason, she never did correct him on that but it's not done out of malicious intent or anything unfriendly so she pushed down her annoyance.
He's also always gazing at her with a strange look in his eyes, like he's mocking her, like he can see the real her clear as day.
And the thought of being exposed as a liar is what makes her scared of him.
"Alright we'll stay here, we've covered more than enough ground and we could all use some rest." None of the others seemed to have any complaints as they tied up the horses and set up a campfire.
"Hey what are we gonna get to eat?" Sasha had to ask as Eren held his knife over a piece of flint.
"We've got some food packed but we don't have enough to just hand it out, if you want something extra then I suggest you go hunt for it, your from Dauper aren't you?" The girl seemed to beam at the mention of hunting but promptly looked downcast.
"But I didn't bring my bow." She told him as though it were the end of the world.
Eren paused from setting the fire as he reached into his backpack and threw her a bow.
Sashas expression was blank." I'm also missing some arro-"
He threw her a quill with a few arrows in.
Just how much is he packing in that bag?
Whilst Sasha was hunting for the Walls knows what Eren managed to set the fire all of the Cadets huddled around it to seek warmth as the sun set.
"So anyone got any spooky stories?" Connie asked with a silly grin as they all sat in a circle around the fire.
Mina seemed to squeak at the mention of horror stories." Oh come on, do we really need to tell tell scary stories, I've never liked those anyway."
Historia felt the need to agree with Mina, though in all honesty she doesn't really care." Yeah why don't we just talk about our lives before we joined the Military." Historia would learn that she should have just kept her mouth shut.
Thomas seemed to like that idea." Alright how about I go first, I'm from Trost and my mum and dad are journalists who write about life inside the Walls. I thought about doing the same for a while but in the end decided to join the the Cadets."
Marco seemed to smile at that." Alright I'm from Jinae Village and my parents wanted me to go be part of the MP'S to devote my life to the king."
The others didn't notice but Erens eyes seemed to flash with immense hatred, if only for a second, and only to go back to their usual vibrant self. He had very distinctive eyes, a powerful green that at times seemed to glow. They were so intense at times that she can shudder under their gaze.
Jean smirked as he took his turn." I'm from Trost and I joined to live safely in the interior." She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as he talked about the claim as though he were proud of it.
Whilst she's nowhere near Erens level of passion about the subject, hiding behind Wall Rose doesn't really look like an option anymore when she thinks back to Erens words, if you think about it logically then if they can lay waste to Shiganshina after appearing out of thin air who's to say they couldn't do the same to Trost and she really doesn't want to think of the consequences if they lost half of their remaining land.
Eren looked at him like he just said the most idiotic thing in the world." Have you listened to any of what I've said? You can hide in the interior all you want but eventually there won't be an interior to hide behind."
Jean seemed to roll his eyes obnoxiously at that remark, even if he knows Erens words hold more than a grain of truth, and responded." So? What are we even meant to do against the Titans if what you've said is true? How do we fight the Colossal if it can just appear and disappear like you said?"
Historia tuned out into her own thoughts as the two got into a heated argument with Eren staying calm and holding back his anger as Jean justified his points with just a little too much passion for the subject.
Jean has clearly developed feeling for the top Cadet, Mikasa Ackerman, however she only ever seems to care about the attention of a single man. With the way the two act you'd think that they're a couple but Eren is either oblivious to this fact or he is too focused on other things to care.
Jeans crush was doomed to fail before it even began and part of her feels sorry for him, but then again with how much of a conceited jackass he can be part of her thinks he partly deserves it.
Their fight however came to a close as Sasha returned with a bag full of dead lizards. Historia is honestly amazed that a single girl can catch so many in one go.
They held them over a fire with Sasha constantly feasting on them before eating a fresh one after she was done.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time with Jean and Eren keeping away from each others throats, everything was pleasant and just as they were about to go to sleep-
"All of you hand over your gear and there won't be any trouble!" They turned in horror to see a group of bandits that had a cart with them.
The bandits were armed with muskets and had their fingers over the trigger as they pointed the guns at the band of thirteen year olds.
Historia was terrified for her life honestly, she should be scared for the others, they aren't the ones that was never meant to be born, but in that moment she easily complied and handed over her gear with the terrified recruits following suit.
The men took their gear from them and held them at gunpoint. They were definitely going to sell the gear on the blackmarket, ODM gear can go for a lot of money if you find the right seller.
"We're gonna need to take one of you to make sure that we aren't being followed." His gaze morphed in perversion as her heart skipped a beat when she found him pointing at her.
She wasn't an idiot, she knew exactly what their intentions would be if she was taken and desperately wanted to avoid being taken with them but knew she had no choice.
At least she'll be remembered for saving the other Cadets, at least they will love even if she dies. Show kindness and you'll get kindness. Show kindness and you'll get kindness. Show ki-
"No take me instead." Historia stopped chanting Friedas words in her head as she turned to gaze at the boy that offered himself up.
Eren stood much to the shock of the rest of the team and spoke in a monotone voice." Take me with you, I'm the leader here, you only need one person right?"
Historia had to double check her eyes to make sure she was hearing him right. Why would somebody put their neck out for her? What did she do to deserve the kindness of another to the extent that they'd willingly unwrap the noose around her neck even if it ment putting themselves I her place?
The man who pointed at her looked annoyed but another in the group pointed out it didn't matter and he begrudgingly allowed their leader to take her place.
"Jean your in charge since I'm gonna be gone for now." He spoke as the bandits tied his hands behind his back and forcefully shoved him into their wagon before they made their getaway leaving the Cadets to collect their bearings.
Armin was surprisingly enough not looking too worried for Eren, he looked a little grim but otherwise fine.
Jean meanwhile was thinking about why Eren left him in charge, he's not exactly a natural born leader.
His gaze fixed in the general direction that the wagon disappeared into. Something doesn't add up to him, why did Eren go away like that so willingly? Even if it was to save Christa he doubts that would be enough to make him go with zero hesitation.
And he didn't see Eren give away his ODM gear now that he thinks about it.
His eyes went wide as saucers as he looked around frantically to see if Eren did what he thinks he-
His eyes found the ODM gear that Eren didn't give to the criminals perched on a branch just above their heads.
"That clever bastard." He whispered to himself in disbelief much to the confusion of the others.
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I sat in the wagon with two men at the front driving and the third standing and looking over me.
I felt increasingly bored as I had nothing to do but wait and listen to the sound of a horses hooves and the occasional dip in the road that will cause the cart to shudder.
The guard looking over my tied up form seemed to get tired of the silence as he spoke up." You can't beat the Titans you know."
I looked up at him apathetically feeling like I might as well get to know the man I'm about to kill, I won't try and befriend him since I'm not a piece of shit like Reiner but I suppose I ought to know the type of guy I'm about to kill.
He squirmed under my analytical gaze." Why would you think that?" Truth be told I might be doing this out of curiosity more than anything, wishing to see why precisely he got to that conclusion.
The man seemed to sigh out loud as he spoke." The Scouts are always going out there like a bunch of fools, they think that we stand a chance against them but we haven't done jack squat, might as well hunker down and protect what little land we've got left."
This man here is an idiot.
I looked him in the eyes making him unconsciously straighten up under the devil's gaze." The Titans won't stop at Maria, eventually Rose will fall, then Sina, it'll be a slaughter. The people outside don't care about our lives, they're no better than those poor souls chained to existence outside the Walls." The bandit seemed to be puzzled by my rambling.
"What the hell are you on about?" He talked like I was insane.
I ignored his question, instead focusing on my incessant rambling." Humans can't stand up to Titans, maybe it is a futile effort for mere mortals to try and match the raw size and strength that the outside world poses. However who says that only humans are on our side." I locked eyes with him as my cut hand stung slightly from the wound I inflicted on myself earlier.
I smirked." The only thing that's stronger than an army of monsters, is the Devil himself. That's me and I'll crush whoever gets in my way." I spoke as my words carried an aura that seemed to make the animals nearby flee.
The criminal seemed to blink and laugh at that." Yeah right kid, you kill the Titans, your a real nutcase, thanks for making this entertaining!" He laughed however my face remained untainted by the act of dismissal.
My look turned carefree." Only a Devil can free the dawned from hell."
Just as I spoke my green eyes glowed brightly as sparks gathered around my skin which made the man stop his annoying howling.
A sense of dread hit all three men as an explosion of yellow lightning occurred that caused an explosion.
The man closest to him was killed instantly by the resulting blast however the other two, who were further away, were simply blown away by the resulting explosion with burns littering their skin as wood flew everywhere and a cloud of steam was created that alerted any people within a few miles radius.
The men struggled to their feet as the cliff they were riding through destabilised and caused a rock slide.
They tried in an act of desperation to struggle forward, wanting nothing more in the world to simply live as the ruthless barrage of rocks continued their rampage and caught up the two criminals.
The first was the luck one that had his head caved in by a falling piece of debris, a relatively quick and painless death, however the second was not so lucky. His leg was caught by a rock at an angle that busted his kneecap, causing him to stumble and ball as I second landed on top of him and proceeded to flatten his insides and crush his spine into hundreds of shattered fragments that once controlled his bodies movements. He barely had time to scream out in pain as another rock crushed his arm, not that the limbs are of much use without a spine to control them, making his final moments complete and pure agony before the boulders took pity on him and finally flattened his skull, putting him out of his misery at last.
The resulting explosion resided as a 15 meter tall human figure appeared, many would consider its figure impressive considering it had an almost inhuman amount of muscle with a low amount of body fat with its naked body being perfectly proportioned looking as though it were sculpted by the finest artists the world had ever seen. Its glowing emerald green eyes seemed to create holes in the thick steam of fog that arrived with its appearance and its ragged dark hair hung loosely on its head as it gazed down at the scene before it.
The giant let out a sigh from its lipless mouth as it kneeled and fell flat on its face as its nape steamed before a human teenager emerged.
He sent one look at the scene before him and was enough satisfied that he wouldn't be found out so he promptly fled the scene.
Most that night saw a lucky Cadet that manages to escape that day however it was in reality quite the opposite. If they saw what the young man really did they'd realise he wasn't lucky. The bandits were unlucky that they danced right into the Devils hand.
